Clonal plants and environmental heterogeneity - An introduction to the proceedings

Clonal growth is characterised by the ability of plants to produce shoot and root units (ramets) which are genetically identical to the parent, and which are potentially independent. Ramets of clonal plants are likely to experience environmental heterogeneity in the form of resource distribution patterns or exposure to other environmental factors. For certain species the key attributes of clonality that appear to confer ecological success under heterogeneous growing conditions can be fairly readily identified, but for the majority of clonal species the mechanisms that may be of particular importance are less certain. Future lines of research should continue to investigate the ecological and evolutionary implications of plant clonality in the context of realistic scales of environmental heterogeneity, as such information may be of considerable practical value.